Amsterdam

After the Heineken Brewery tour we decided to get on the canal boat and take a tour around Amsterdam. We ideally wanted to ride bikes, however, the weather was just too cold and a bit rainy. The canal boat was actually pretty nice and you can enjoy the buildings a lot more. I read in Rick Steves that Amsterdam was built on sand. When they built these buildings, they put wood on top of the sand and also made their houses out of wood. This did not go so well because the moisture from floods caused the wood to rot and houses literally began to sink! You can see some houses are drastically lower than others and also some houses are leaning. Also, the wood to make houses did not end so well because of fires. So now there is cement under the houses and houses are all made of brick. The architecture is absolutely stunning and reminds me a lot of Copenhagen's architecture. There are people riding bikes EVERYWHERE and bikes take up every empty space. Dutch people are also very tall, so I felt very welcomed with my height.

After our boat tour, we went to the Red Light District in the afternoon. It was fine just a bit awkward but at least I can say I saw it. Then we walked around and took Rick Steve's walking tour in his book and learned some more history about Amsterdam. It was a great first day.